Frank Murkowski

Mr. MURKOWSKI

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Acquisition and Technology of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, 1997, in open session, to receive testimony on science and technology research in review of S. 450, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 1997 at 2 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate for a hearing on S. 208, the HUBZone Act of 1997 on Thursday, April 10, 1997, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. in room 428A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 1997 beginning at 10:30 a.m. to receive testimony from outside counsel concerning petitions filed in connection with a contested U.S. Senate election held in Louisiana in November 1996.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Thursday, April 10, at 10 a.m. for a hearing on IRS and the Taxpayer at Risk.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 1997, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 1997, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, the Finance Committee requests unanimous consent to conduct a hearing on Thursday, April 10, 1997, beginning at 10 a.m. in room 215 Dirksen.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 10, 1997, at 10:30 a.m. multi-channel video competition.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be allowed to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 1997 at 2:30 p.m. in SR-328A to consider the nominations of Lowell Lee Junkins, of Iowa, to be a member of the board of directors of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, Vice Edward Charles Williamson; and Velma Ann Jorgensen, of Iowa, to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration Board for the term expiring May 21, 2002, Gary C. Byrne, resigned.

Mr. MURKOWSKI

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Is there any objection to splitting the remaining time?

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, if I may make a correction regarding what I believe is the intent of my friend from New Mexico. It does not exclude a State, but it does exclude sites. My State of Alaska has had the experience of two underground nuclear explosions, the two largest that have ever occurred. That is the limitation of our experience. I cannot speak for Senators from the State of Washington or Oregon. Senator Wyden, as you know, felt very strongly about eliminating the Hanford site. He explained his rationale to me, that Hanford was still receiving substantial quantities of waste associated with reactors that had been cut up from the submarines, coming up the Columbia River. I hope he comes to the floor and speaks for himself, but on this matter he explained that he felt that Hanford had taken enough waste and Hanford is the largest current holder of spent nuclear fuel in inventory in tonnage, approximately 2,133 tons. Whether that satisfies the Senator from New Mexico, I do not know. Savannah River, SC, Senator Thurmond and Senator Hollings felt very strongly about the continued responsibility of the Savannah River facility to take additional waste, wastes coming in from Europe at this time, waste that is being vitrified. They have approximately 206 metric tons. At Oak Ridge, in Tennessee, Senator Frist and Senator Thompson have indicated their concern. They currently have 46 tons of spent nuclear fuel. Whether those sites can be construed as different, I think you could probably make a case, from the situation in your State--but I cannot speak for your State and I will not. The only thing I can say is this is spent nuclear fuel. The theory, as the Senator knows, of this process of everybody coming in and eliminating his State could progress on this floor. We could go through 47, 48, 49--whether we would get them all and come full circle, I do not know. But I can express that these sites have major cleanup operations ongoing, unlike other sites. The Department of Energy is spending literally billions of dollars to attempt to stabilize these wastes. I have been out to Hanford. I have seen the efforts out there to generate the technology, to get the destabilized waste out of the tanks. Some of those tanks are believed to be unstable and leaking. I have seen the efforts at Savannah to recover the liquid waste from the tanks. The spent fuel is in pools and corroding. I have seen that physically. They claim they have a priority. I cannot make that scientific judgment. But the Senators from those States are obviously concerned that these sites cannot handle the new job of dealing with more commercial fuel and continuing their obligation to clean up sites that have not been properly taken care of. So I think, if I can perhaps express the argument which I assume prevails among the majority of my colleagues who have spoken on this subject--I would welcome the rest of them to come down and speak for themselves. I reserve the remaining time on our side to accommodate those Members. Mr. President, how much time is remaining on our side?

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, we have no objection and urge adoption of the amendment.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. The Senator from Idaho is correct. It is my understanding it is going into the general fund. It does not remain in escrow. When the Federal Government takes the waste, they will probably have to appropriate it.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. There are basically two types of storage. One is in a pool adjacent to the reactor which is temporary and, in many cases, that is full. At least one power company is beginning to store their fuel in casks on the surface, they simply have run out of space, and the Senator from Idaho is correct in his assessment that those facilities were not designed to be of a permanent or long-lasting nature, they were to be of a temporary nature pending the movement of that out to a central site.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. The Senator from Idaho is correct. However, it should be noted that there may be limitations placed on any further storage capacity associated with what they are currently licensed for, and that would be a combination of Federal and State licenses that must be obtained. It is theoretically possible that there may be a determination that the areas are inadequate to store additional fuel and the reactors will have to shut down.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. The Senator is correct. I think New Jersey is up around 70 or 75 percent dependent on nuclear power.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. The Senator from Idaho is correct, there may be a possibility of purchasing excess energy from Canada, and some of the States adjacent to the Canadian border. Clearly, there is not an access in those areas. It would have to be created.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. I certainly concur with my friend from Nevada. I was advised by our leadership that agreement has been proposed and, in effect, that is what the leader plans to do. I cannot comment relative to the position on the other side, but I think Senators should simply be aware of the possibility, knowing the way this place works, seldom does the possibility occur. In reality, just the opposite may occur. For anybody who is listening, that appears to be the intent of the leadership, at least as many as three votes yet tonight. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thought the Senator said 2 minutes. I ask unanimous consent for the following agreement: That the time on the Bumpers amendment No. 33 be limited to 20 minutes with no second-degree amendments, equally divided, and that the time on the Bingaman amendment be limited to 40 minutes----

Mr. MURKOWSKI. It is my understanding that we would have the two Wellstone amendments pending on Monday, and we would have one Domenici amendment, which is still in disagreement--

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Or earlier.

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Thirty minutes equally divided, and that no second- degree amendments be in order.